Next, here are my top 10 … OK, 20 … movies of the Aughts.
1. “Garden State” (2004) — I’m not going to lie: This is just a romantic fairy tale — average Joe finds true love with Natalie Portman (Portman’s character doesn’t seem to realize she looks like Natalie Portman, and she’s all the more lovable for it) — that I find very appealing. Great scene: The trio climbs atop a bus in a rainy ravine and lets out a big ol’ yell, and somewhere “Only Living Boy in New York” is playing.
2. “Ghost World” (2001) — Among the quippy teen cynics in this comic book adaptation, it’s not too surprising that Scarlett Johansson became a star. What is surprising is that Thora Birch seems to have disappeared. She is wonderful here as we watch her pseudo-profound disillusionment crumble, leaving her truly adrift, and on a bus for who-knows-where. Great scene: The guy at the bus stop insists that the bus will come eventually. Enid thinks he’s crazy, but later, he’s proven correct.
3. “Almost Famous” (2000) — The wide-eyed, innocently music-loving William Miller is a stand-in for auteur Cameron Crowe, and also for any audience member who loves music and/or music journalism and/or the 1970s. Great scene: The busload of exhausted musicians and band-aids, plus William, gradually breaks into Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.”
4. “Napoleon Dynamite” (2004) — Before or since, there’s never been another movie character like Napoleon. Yet somehow, he — and Pedro and Deb and Kip and Uncle Rico — instantly rang true. They weren’t so much over-the-top as they were skewed-to-the-side. Great scene: Napoleon’s crowd-pleasing dance.
5. “(500) Days of Summer” (2009) — It tells you right up front: This is not a love story. Nonetheless, it’s the most truthful, insightful movie about relationships this decade. And I love it for this: It still finds a way to deliver a happy ending. Great scene: Tom’s Hall & Oates-driven dance sequence, which cleverly shows how great he’s feeling after a night with Zooey Deschanel (his storefront reflection shows a dashing Harrison Ford). It doesn’t represent the movie’s overall mood, but it’s fun.
6. “Sideways” (2004) — This road trip movie combines two character arcs (Paul Giamatti is a romantic dunce, Thomas Hayden-Church is a little too good at landing the ladies) with a passion for wine (which could stand in for a love of anything; I’ve never drank wine, and I still find Giamatti’s rant about merlot hilarious). Great scene: An increasingly unstable Giamatti hits into the golfers in front of him, then chases after them in his cart.
7. “Lost in Translation” (2003) — The rich sense of place in Tokyo contrasts nicely with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson’s struggles to find a sense of who they are. By the time Murray whispers something inaudible to Johansson, you don’t care what he said; it’s like the movie too beautiful to let dialogue get in the way at the end. Great scene: Murray doing the wine commercial.
8. “V for Vendetta” (2006) — Most blockbuster movies are all about good versus evil. This one is not so black and white; that’s brave and kind of brilliant. Great scene: Our audience surrogate, Evie (Natalie Portman), decides she’s going to throw in her lot with the manipulative and villainous (or is he?) title character. During this sequence, I realized I was watching a mainstream masterpiece.
9. “School of Rock” (2003) — Jack Black, bouncing off the walls as he did in many ’00s movies, was the perfect choice to teach students the power of music. You can’t help but root for him and his students as they go up against an administration that might’ve stepped out of the backwoods of “Footloose.” Great scene: The final, goblet-of-rock raising rendition of “Teacher’s Pet.”
10. “Broken Flowers” (2005) — This unofficial companion piece to “Lost in Translation” finds a numb Bill Murray visiting all his old girlfriends, with decidedly different results. Great scene: One scene ends with Murray sitting unmoving on his couch for a good 20 seconds, then it cuts to another scene of him doing the same on the airplane.
11. “Serenity” (2005) — A love letter to “Firefly” fans, this isn’t as good as a second season of the show would’ve been, but it’s still one of the best big sci-fi movies of the decade.
12. “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist” (2008) — A nice music/first love movie, with a Big Apple you can almost taste.
13. “I Love You, Man” (2009) — A rare (and funny) movie that addresses the foibles of trying to make friends once you’re beyond the structured environment of school.
14. “61*” (2001) –Roger Maris didn’t get the justice of his record standing alone during his career (that’s the asterisk of the title), but he gets the posthumous justice of a great film by Yankees fan Billy Crystal that is more legitimate than any of the ‘roid-powered home run marks over 61.
15. “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” (2008) — We laugh as Jason Segel increasingly gets into embarrassing situations around the ex he is trying to get over. But Mila Kunis turns out to be a decent consolation prize.
16. “Knocked Up” (2007) — It’s on this list not so much for the pregnancy storyline as for the interaction between the dudes (Seth Rogen and a handful of veterans from “Freaks and Geeks” and “Undeclared”).
17. “Zodiac” (2007) — A 1970s-vintage newsroom was never so appealing as when Jake Gyllenhaal chips away at the Zodiac Killer mystery in this film.
18. “Grindhouse” (2007) — I loved the idea of making new films in the B-movie style of the 1970s. What I really wanted to see, though, was “Machete,” or maybe “Thanksgiving.” Or heck, maybe just a whole movie of clever, fake trailers.
19. “Sin City” (2005) — Here’s another film where you can get lost in the style (in this case, gritty comic book pages brought to life). It holds your attention throughout, but the highlight is the installment featuring Mickey Rourke as a guy who’s hard to kill.
20. “The 40 Year-Old Virgin” (2005) — Steve Carell plays the prototypical nice-guy-who-finishes-last in the movie that showed “inappropriate” humor and “appropriate” drama can indeed be mixed together.
So there you have it: It was a pretty great decade after all, as I look back on it. (There’s nothing like whittling down end-of-decade top 10 — or even 20 — lists, and having quality stuff miss the cut, that reminds one of how much good stuff the entertainment industry actually does produce.)
Now it’s your turn to pick your favorite films of the Aughts. Fire away.
Comments
John, I appreciated your list. Definitely some noteworthy movies on there I enjoyed. But outside of the top 5, my list greatly differs.
1. Shaun of the Dead — You know you’re watching a classic when you care for the main character, Shaun, and his sidekick, Ed, as if they’re family. Shaun’s a regular guy — not appreciated at work, family life’s kind of screwed up, plays video games, has a bar he frequents daily and is generally apathetic about everything he does. Edgar condones and perpetuates Shaun’s lifestyle and they’re a great duo — we would all be lucky to have that kind of friendship. I would watch the movie on their interactions alone, but add zombies, a love story and violence to the mix, and you got the top movie of the aughts. It’s hard to reinvent a zombie movie, but they did it here. Sad to see this didn’t make your list, John. Great scene: At the end of the movie, when Ed’s about to die, he says “I’m sorry Shaun.” It could have been a sad, tear-jerker moment, but instead he was apoligizing for farting, an inside joke for the pair. Also the DJ scene of the pair spinning records and dancing to Electro is timeless.
2. The Royal Tenenbaums
You either love or hate this movie, and I know it’s the latter for you John. But I love when a movie follows the plight of multiple characters, and this is one is filled with great actors. In this case, a regretful dad (Gene Hackman) wanting to reunite with his three dysfunctional children (an overprotective dad and financial wiz kid in Ben Stiller, a playwrite prodigy in Gwyneth Paltrow and a suicidal tennis prodigy in Luke Wilson, two of whom are in love with each other)
Throw in a Luke Wilson, Angelica Houston, Owen Wilson, Danny Glover, Bill Murray and his assistant Pagoda, it’s a great effin’ movie where it seems every character has lost faith in life and it’s touching. Plus it has a great soundtrack that sets off some great montages…very similar to the way Garden State was shot for me. Great scene(s): into to the movie, explaining the child prodigies and the background to the family.
3. High Fidelity
John, thought this one would have definitely made your list, being that John Cusack’s character did a top five list for everything. Centered mostly around music and love, the story is perfect for people wondering about lost relationships. From the music store scenes to the flash backs, it delivered and probably should have been No. 1 or 2 on my list. Great scene: when he details Top 5 Dream Jobs (below) and all other lists.
1. Journalist for Rolling Stone magazine, 1976 to 1979
2. Producer, Atlantic Records, 1964 to 1971
3. Any kind of musician, besides classical or rap
4. Film director, any kind except German or silent
5. Architect (replace by record store owner)
4. Garden State — you did this movie justice
5. The Wrestler — The Ram is maybe my favorite character of the aughts. For a kid who grew up on wrestling in the 80s, this movie hits the mark on the travails of an aging wrestler. Add in a great soundtrack, a lot of tears and Marisa Tomei naked, it’s by far the best movie of 2008. Great Scene: When he takes his estranged daughter to the pier, really endeared you to Rourke’s character.
6. Almost Famous — you did it justice
7. American Splendor — The cult fame of Harvey Pekar is well-documented here. An LP and Jazz lover, Harvey’s life is full of few surprises until he finds the joy of writing and comic books. Great Scene: He and Toby go on a 260 mile round-trip to see Toby’s favorite film, Revenge of the Nerds. Toby sees the film as a victory for the nerds while Pekar rants that the on-screen nerds don’t represent the Cinderella story of success— just the mainstream exploiting nerds once again.
8. Road Trip –– I saw this movie 3 times in a dollar movie theater. It’s the quintessential road trip movie capturing the dream of every adventurous college student. Great Scene: The four white kids showing claiming to be brothers of an exclusive black fraternity and then the party scene that ensues.
9. O Brother Where Art Thou — Engrossed in every part of the movie — known for soundtrack but underrated
10. Kind of Kong: Fist Full of Quarters — I love documentaries and this is the perfect story about a man who just wants to see he accomplished something. His pursuit of a record-breaking score in Donkey Kong is sincere and moving. Great Scene: when he travels to play on the arcade machine and he just can’t attain the high score, believing he’s let his family down.
11. Monster’s Ball
12. Harold and Kumar go to White Castle
13. Once
14. I love you, Man
15. Best in Show
16. The Holiday
17. Finding Neverland
18. Zoolander
19. Let the Right One In
20. Big Fish# Posted By Seth Stringer | 12/29/09 3:33 PM
Nice list, Seth. Especially the three movies (“Garden State,” “Almost Famous” and “I Love You, Man”) that were also on my list.
I also agree with:
“Shaun of the Dead” (also, “Hot Fuzz” deserves consideration). Gotta love the low-key British humor. The film is a nice metaphor about how humans behave like zombies (like when Shaun is walking to the convenience store, completely oblivious to the ruin and chaos around him). It just missed my top 20.
“High Fidelity” (and “About a Boy” might be even better due to the performance of Hugh Grant). I underrated these two Nick Hornby adaptations only because I think of the books first. But the movies are great, too. All the great music stuff in “HF,” and it was the first performance where Jack Black earned his reputation. They just missed my top 20, but if I had a do-over I would put at least one of them on there.
“American Splendor.” Great example of depressed-guy humor. It’s the role Paul Giamatti was born to play (nothing against his turn in “Sideways”). It’s a unique accomplishment and it just missed my top 20 cut.
“Monster’s Ball.” Disturbing flick, as I recall, but I didn’t remember enough details to put it on my list.
“Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.” Much funnier than it has any right to be. A smart dumb movie in the vein of “Dumb and Dubmer.” Great to see the MILF guy go on to a starring role, and it made Neal Patrick Harris instantly cool — quite an accomplishment. Didn’t quite make my top 20 cut.
“Big Fish.” Beautiful, touching film about a son who struggles to relate to his dad. Tim Burton’s most accessible work, yet it also has an appealingly quirky sensibility. And it features Alison Lohman looking very pretty in a yellow dress; that alone makes it a top 20 contender. It was one of the last films to miss my cut.
I haven’t seen:
“The Wrestler,” “King of Kong,” “Best in Show,” “The Holiday” and “Let the Right One In” (never even heard of that one). I’d be willing to try any of them, though.
However, I disagree with:
“The Royal Tennenbaums.” The purposely bland acting style doesn’t agree with me. I found the film boring, off-putting and smug.
“Road Trip.” I saw it and don’t remember hating it, yet I can’t remember a single detail about it. I think maybe Tom Green and Stiffler were in it. Not top 20 material for me.
“O Brother Where Art Thou.” Funny scene when Clooney is cooking the squirrel. Otherwise, blah. And the music is not particularly good.
“Once.” Really kind of a bland romance movie. I expected more, with all the hype. And the music wasn’t that great.
“Finding Neverland.” Completely bored me. And the fact that it was heaped with Oscar praise makes me hate it.
“Zoolander.” Ben Stiller’s style of humor usually doesn’t connect with me. This is a prime example.
Overall, though, 14 out of 20 isn’t bad. Good list.# Posted By John Hansen | 12/30/09 12:34 AM
20. The Visitor – 2008
19. Mystic River – 2003
18. American Psycho – 2000
17. Milk – 2008
16. American Gangster – 2007
15. Revolutionary Road – 2008
14. Little Miss Sunshine – 2005
13. The Pianist – 2002
12. Brokeback Mountain – 2005
11. No Country for Old Men – 2007
10. The Reader – 2008
9. Hotel Rwanda – 2004
8. Entre les Murs -2008
7. The Last King of Scotland – 2006
6. Up In The Air – 2009
5. A Beautiful Mind – 2001
4. Capote – 2005
3. El Laberinto del Fauno – 2006
2. (500) Days of Summer – 2009
1. Synecdoche, New York – 2008# Posted By Chance F. Oja | 2/14/10 4:11 AM
Chance—
Cool; you found my blog. Impressive list. I have seen six of them.
(500) Days — Obviously, I agree.
Capote — You really can’t go wrong with a P.S. Hoffman movie, and this is one of his finest performances.
A Beautiful Mind — I saw it, I liked it, and I don’t remember a thing about it. Sorry.
Little Miss Sunshine — Very cute and funny movie. It was in contention for my top 20 and it just missed the cut.
American Psycho — Unique movie, stylistically. I admired it, but can’t imagine sitting through it a second time.
Mystic River — Not awful, but too many plot holes and weird twists for it to be top 20 material for me.
I have heard of most of your other 14 movies (except the two foreign films). I’d be willing to watch most of them, unless they are war movies or violent movies. I have found that I don’t get any enjoyment from watching realistic violence or suffering, even if it’s well done. I’m OK with cartoon or over-the-top violence or murder mysteries, but not so much when the point of the movie is “check out how realistically violent this is.” But I’m up for any film about people with psychological issues with a touch of humor (dark or light) in it.
John# Posted By John Hansen | 2/14/10 4:49 PM